


down where sound comes blunt and wan

by CydSA



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010), Supernatural
Genre: Case Fic, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-18
Updated: 2012-06-18
Packaged: 2017-11-08 01:14:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/437512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CydSA/pseuds/CydSA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s something ‘fishy’ about the murders being committed on the Big Island. Sam and Dean Winchester come over to Hawaii and offer Five-O their special brand of expertise. Spending time with the Winchesters forces Steve and Danny to finally face whatever it is that’s been brewing between them. Between hunting sharkmen killers and trying to figure out exactly who the Winchesters are, Five-O have their hands full. Of course, almost dying does wonders for a relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	down where sound comes blunt and wan

Sam said goodbye to Matt, one of the hunters on the West Coast and turned to Dean, closing his phone. “We have a case.”

Dean waited. Sam wasn’t telling him everything. “And?”

Sam’s shoulders hunched a little. “It’s in Hawaii,” he said.

Dean felt his stomach turn over a couple of times. “That means a plane,” he muttered. 

“Yeah,” Sam put a hand on his arm. “Are you up for it?”

“Flying,” Dean declared as though it was Armageddon. Which it certainly felt like.

“I can ask around,” Sam offered. “Send someone else.”

Dean shook his head. “I can do this,” he assured Sam. And himself. “It’s just a tin can a couple of miles in the air. How hard can it be?”

Sam looked doubtful. “If you’re sure?”

Dean nodded. “Tell me about the case,” he said.

“Four dead so far,” Sam told him. “Massive blood loss. Not much left of the victims.”

“And we think this is ours because?” Dean raised an eyebrow and scowled when Bobby moved his whiskey glass away from him. “Cut that out!” He looked in Bobby’s general direction.

Bobby didn’t reply, didn’t show himself but Dean could feel the disapproval in the air and he left the glass. “I’m going to leave the flask on the mainland,” he told Bobby. “Then you won’t be able to come with us.”

“Stop messing with Bobby and pay attention,” Sam said and Dean turned back to him with a last pointed glare at the empty space where he was sure Bobby was standing. 

“Okay, all ears,” he said.

“The Medical Examiner hasn’t been able to establish a COD because there isn’t much left of the bodies.” Sam pointed at his laptop screen. “Mostly body parts.”

“Wonderful,” Dean muttered. “Sounds like fun.”

Sam turned the eyes on him. “It’s Hawaii, Dean.”

“And?” Dean asked.

“It’s the vacation capital of the world?” 

Dean sighed. “Honestly, you’re such a princess, Sam.”

Sam stood up and kissed him quickly. “Our flight leaves in four hours, we’d better get moving.” He went into the bathroom to begin clearing their stuff.

Dean contemplated killing his brother. He would if he didn’t know that Sam would totally come back and haunt him. “Like some other jerks I know,” he mumbled.

Bobby tripped him as he walked to his bed to start packing. “So leaving the flask behind,” Dean threatened.

*********

Steve sat back on his heels. “Well that’s new.”

“Ya think?” Danny asked and they both looked down at the body. 

“We’re making progress, bra,” Chin told Steve.

Danny’s eyes went wide. “Progress? What’s that supposed to mean?” 

Chin squinted at him. “Well, we actually **have** an entire body now, for one.”

Danny’s chest puffed out. “And what makes you think that this is the work of whoever’s been taking the others?” he asked.

Steve wanted to step between them but he’d learned his lesson the hard way with Chin and Danny. He left them to their bickering and focused on the body.

“Exsanguination,” Max came up next to him and crouched down. 

“Blood loss?” Steve watched Max take out the thermometer. 

“Indeed,” Max stuck the instrument into the gash below the deceased’s ribcage. “And we should have T.O.D. in about,” he pulled the thermometer out, “now.” He grinned. 

“And?” Steve prompted.

“Some time between midnight and two a.m.”

Steven nodded and stroked his chin. “What could drain a man of blood like this?” he asked, not really expecting an answer.

“Vampire?” Max suggested. Steve suspected that he was only half-joking.

“There’s no such thing as a vampire,” Chin said. “Perhaps it’s a Kupua?”

Danny bit. “What’s a kapua?” he asked.

“They’re tricksters,” Chin explained. “They’re able to appear in different bodies and destroy anyone they catch.”

“So much more real than a vampire,” Danny noted to Steve with a small grin. He tried not to grin back but Danny’s smiles were like drugs. Once you got one of them, you just wanted more. Steve’s brain veered away from that train of thought.

Chin was almost scowling at Danny. “You don’t know everything about the islands, haole,” he pointed a finger.

Danny held his hands up. “And _you_ don’t know everything about the mainland, Ho.” Chin’s lip curled dangerously and Danny took a step back.

Steve decided to stop this right now, blood was about to spill. “It’s not a vampire _or_ a Kupua,” he told them and Max peered up at him. 

“You know what it is?” he asked.

Steve shook his head. “I’m not even going to hazard a guess on this one.” He folded his arms. “We’ve got four bodies now, each at the time of the full moon.”

“Remains,” Max corrected.

“Remains,” Steve agreed. He frowned. “This one makes five, one a month.” He looked at Danny and his mouth was grim. “I think it’s fair to say that we have a serial killer on our hands.”

Danny nodded. “But we don’t know how they’re being snatched, what the killer is doing to them or why.”

“Well,” Max offered, “we do know _how_ they’re dying.”

Steve grimaced. “Being drained of blood isn’t really a cause of death, Max.”

Max blinked. “Well, let’s see how well you live if you don’t have any blood,” he suggested.

Danny waved a hand. “I know what he means,” He pointed at the body. “Exsanguination is the result, not the cause.”

Steve made his fingers into a pistol shape and ‘pulled’ the trigger. “Got it in one, Danno.”

“Oh my god,” Chin looked between them. “No wonder the entire HPD thinks that you two are sleeping together.”

Danny’s mouth opened and closed several times, face going a little red. Steve bit his lip, trying not to laugh. “Fuck you,” Danny told Chin.

“No thanks, I’m married.” Chin looked up as Kono came over. “What did the witness say?”

She shook her head. “Nothing much. He’s pretty freaked out about it, cuz.” She looked over at the jogger who’d discovered the body. “He literally fell on top of him.”

Danny gave a full body shudder that Steve resolutely ignored. Not looking at Danny had become a full-time job. “That’ll give him nightmares for years,” he said.

Steve grimaced. “Shit happens.”

Danny stared at him. “Seriously, Steven, that’s what you’ve got? ‘Shit happens’?” 

Steve decided to ignore Danny and he turned back to Max. “So, what is your expert diagnosis?”

Max blew out a breath. “I hate to admit this, especially when there are others around, but I don’t have a clue.” His shoulders went tight. “Perhaps after I have examined the victim in my laboratory I’ll be able to give you more information.”

Steve nodded and waved at the ME officers waiting to take the body. “Okay, Max, I’m relying on you to get to the bottom of this. You told me that you needed more evidence than a couple of hands and feet.” Max scowled at him. “Well you’ve got almost an entire body now.”

Danny and Chin pointedly looked at the ground as Max narrowed his eyes. “Are you suggesting..?” he trailed off.

Steve held up his hands. “Hey, not questioning your capabilities, I swear,” he said. “I’m just frustrated and needing to know what the hell is going on.”

“I am doing my best,” Max walked off to the ME’s van, looking a little dejected.

Danny bumped Steve’s shoulder. “Way to upset off the resident genius, babe.”

Steve sighed, “I didn’t mean to do it.” He stepped carefully away from Danny, trying not to appear as though he was actually stepping away from Danny. The frown on his partner’s face told him that he hadn’t been all that successful.

“What’s going on with you?” Danny demanded.

Steve fought the urge to hunch his shoulders. “Nothing,” he said and turned to leave.

Danny’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Seriously, Steven, what the fuck?” His eyes were confused.

Steve shook his head. “I just…” he felt helpless and Danny pulled him away from the crime scene, face concerned.

“Talk to me,” he urged.

Steve sucked in a breath. “I can’t,” he said and he felt like a shit when Danny flinched. “I just can’t, Danno.”

“We’re supposed to be partners, best friends, able to trust each other with everything,” Danny sounded a little wrecked.

“Not this,” Steve insisted but he tried to smile. “You wouldn’t…” He shook his head again. “Don’t push this, okay?”

Danny looked like he wanted to push but he just pressed his lips together and walked away.

Steve could see by the set of his shoulders that Danny was pissed at him. It couldn’t be helped though. Steve just had to get over this ridiculous Danny-crush and things would go back to normal.

Kono came up to him after seeing Max off. “You’re making a mistake, boss,” she said. “He deserves to know how you feel.”

The blood flushed through Steve’s body, painting his cheeks hot and red before he paled again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told her.

She snorted. “Even a blind man can see how you are about him.” She watched Danny crouch down and poke at something in the dirt. “Don’t waste your chance at happiness.”

“There’s nothing…” Steve began and then stopped when she levelled a stare at him. Kono was fucking scary when she looked like that.

“Stop kidding yourself.” She patted his arm. “You and Danny are totally supposed to be together. There’s a reason why we all joke about you being married.”

Steve glared at her. “That is so offensive on so very many levels.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Eh, it is what it is.” 

Danny had called Chin over and they were animatedly discussing whatever it was that Danny had found. Kono and Steve walked over to them.

“Find something?” Steve asked and watched as Danny had a brief internal debate as to whether he should answer him or not. Danny was such hard work sometimes.

“Looks like some kind of skin or hide,” Danny said eventually. The cop side had won. This time.

“Human or animal?” Steve asked and Chin shrugged.

“Now that is for the lab to tell us,” he said. He bagged the evidence and labelled it. “There’s something weird about these murders.” Chin looked over at Kono. “I think we need to talk to Aunty,” he said.

“Aunty who?” Danny asked before Steve could.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, cuz,” Kono frowned. “Aunty’s still pissed at you.”

Chin raised an eyebrow. “You mean she’s pissed at you,” he corrected.

Kono lifted her upper lip in a snarl and both Steve and Danny took a step back. “Your fuck-up,” she told Chin.

Chin sighed. “So, are you going to call her then?”

Steve raised a cautious hand. “Why would you be calling your aunt about this investigation?” he asked.

Chin and Kono exchanged a silent thought and then Chin replied, “My aunt on my dad’s side…well she’s his granny’s sister, is a shaman or kahuna.”

Steve waited for him to continue but it looked as though Chin was done. “And?” he prompted.

Chin stared at him. “Well, Aunty will know what to do.”

“How will she know about a serial killer?” Danny asked.

Kono’s expression was the same as Chin’s. It was their _‘seriously, haole, why aren’t you following this conversation?’_ look. Danny had been the recipient many times. Steve, not so much. “Kono?” Steve asked.

She pursed her lips. “Boss, this killer - I’m not sure, but I’ve been thinking. Looking at the lack of evidence and how Max can’t figure out what’s going on, you know, maybe the killer isn’t human.” 

*********

Dean’s fingers dug into the armrests. He fucking hated flying.

“Take deep breaths, man,” Sam’s voice was a low sound to the right. Dean so wasn’t turning there. There was a window and sky and death right next to Sam’s shoulder.

“Fuck off,” Dean growled. He flinched when Sam’s hand dropped on top of his but allowed his brother to unclench his fingers and turn his hand over so that they were palm to palm. His nails dug into Sam’s skin instead of the unfeeling material of the armrest.

Dean heard Sam suck in a breath and then he forced himself to relax his hand. Hurting Sammy was never an option.

“Think happy thoughts, Dean.” Now Sam was just trying to piss Dean off. 

He turned his head a little and let Sam see his death glare, not particularly effective out of the corner of his eye. “I swear on all that is holy, I am going to kick your ass from Hawaii to the mainland when we land,” he promised.

Sam chuckled, a rough sound that made every hair on Dean’s arms stand up in interest. “Sure, Dean, whatever.” 

“I …” Dean sucked in a breath when the plane did a mid-air hop and his stomach stayed a couple of feet above the rest of his body. “Fuck, we’re going to die.” He knew that he was freaking out but couldn’t seem to stop himself.

“Shut up and stop thinking about where we are,” Sam instructed. “Think about the case we’re heading towards.”

Dean couldn’t think of anything but open sky and deep sea and big sharks with bigger teeth. 

Sam sighed. “Okay, I really didn’t want to have it come to this…” Before Dean could ask him what he meant, Sam was leaning across, his mouth soft and warm against Dean’s.

Dean stopped thinking about dying. His mind went to less philosophical places with Sam’s tongue seeking entrance to his mouth and his big hand cupping his chin.

He made a small sound and melted into the heat of Sam’s body. 

The noise of a throat clearing brought him back to himself and he blinked his eyes open to look up at the cabin attendant. “Hi,” he greeted her.

“Hi,” she smiled at them. “I just wanted to ask if you gentlemen would prefer chicken or beef?”

Dean sucked in a breath. “Peanuts,” he said, “and please keep ‘em coming.”

*********

Steve couldn’t remember a moment when he’d been more confused. After the cryptic ‘Aunty’ conversation with Chin and Kono, he’d put it behind him and focussed on catching a killer who was getting increasingly bold. And violent.

Max had decided to talk to him again – after Steve had bribed him with a limited edition Doctor Who mug. “The cause of death is exsanguination,” he began and then frowned at Steve’s impatient expression. “Is there something wrong with my diagnosis?’’ he asked Steve.

Danny gave Steve a not-very gentle kick in the ankle. “No!” Steve assured him. “I’m just interested to know what _caused_ the exsanguination.”

Max frowned. “I was about to explain that,” he replied.

Danny made a ‘zipped lips’ motion to Steve who just sighed. His entire team was just so much hard work. 

Steve waved a hand at Max. “So, amaze me,” he said and caught Danny’s eye-roll out of the corner of his eye.

Max narrowed his eyes at Steve, as though trying to figure out if Steve was being facetious. He let out a short breath and then pointed at the spot where the victim’s neck met his torso. “It appears as though the initial point of trauma was here.”

Steve leaned down and squinted at the mangle of flesh. “How the hell can you see that?”

Max made a sound. “It’s my job,” he told Steve and allowed a small curve of his upper lip. “And I’m a genius.”

Danny grinned at him. “It’s why they pay you the big bucks, Maximillian.”

Max turned his gaze on Danny. “I get paid by the government,” he said.

Steve bit his lip. Danny stared at Max and then shook his head. “Of course you do.”

“Max?” Steve snapped his fingers. “Body, cause of death, actual police work?”

Max scowled at him. “If your Laurel and Hardy show would allow me to finish my diagnosis…”

Steve held up his hands. “I’m all ears.”

“And all …” Danny grinned at him innocently. “…muscle,” he finished when Steve glared.

“As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted…again,” Max levelled a glare at Steve and Danny, “the initial cause of major blood loss was the wound to the victim’s liver.” He pointed to the same spot. It still looked like mincemeat. 

“Knife?” Steve asked.

Max shook his head. “I’ve not managed to determine how the skin was broken but my best guess, which is usually correct, is it was caused by something similar to a jagged spear.”

“A spear?” Danny sounded disbelieving. “What the fuck is a spear doing as a murder weapon?” 

Max permitted himself a small smile. “That’s for you to start investigating, Detective Williams. It’s why they pay _you_ the big bucks.”

Steve thought that the veins on Danny’s neck were going to explode as he pushed him out of the lab ahead of him. “Let us know what else you find, Max!” he called over his shoulder, shoving at Danny to keep moving.

“I swear to God, Steven,” Danny fumed as they headed back to Five-O, “one day I’m going to do serious damage to that guy.”

*********

Dean wanted to kiss the runway when he hit the bottom of the stairs. The pretty woman hanging a bunch of flowers around his neck stopped him.

“Aloha,” she smiled, “welcome to Hawaii.”

Sam smiled a little in return and lowered his head so that she could reach up and put another bunch of flowers around his neck. 

Dean snorted. “Figures you’d get flowers, Sammy, but can’t they see that I’m too manly for this?” He tried a patented ‘Dean Winchester wants you baby’ look at the woman who kept her smile professional. Must be losing his touch, he thought. 

Sam wrapped his fingers around Dean’s and towed Dean towards the terminal. “Just once, Dean, could you not flirt with every woman you see?”

Dean shrugged, but moved up next to Sam. “Aw, baby, you’re jealous. That’s adorable.”

He could practically hear Sam’s eye-roll. “Sure, whatever.”

Dean bumped his shoulder against Sam’s. “You know you’re the only girl for me, Sammy.” He tried to keep the smile hidden when Sam shot him a suspicious glare.

“I’m going to make you pay for that, Dean.”

Sam’s low statement sent a shiver down Dean’s spine. He couldn’t wait.

“So, where are we headed?” he asked Sam instead, putting thoughts of payback to the back of his mind. It was time to focus on the case now that they were back on solid ground.

“We’re going to the headquarters of Five-O,” Sam told him as he hauled their bag up off the conveyor belt. The easy strength in Sam’s muscles distracted Dean for a moment and he let his eyes trail over the movement beneath Sam’s shirt.

“Five-O?” he asked, trying to ignore the ache that never seemed to go away where Sam was concerned.

Sam shot him a look that told him he knew exactly where Dean’s brain was right now. “I did tell you about this on the way to the airport,” he said and then grinned, “and on the plane.”

Dean waved a hand, dismissing the words. “I heard nothing but the sound of air between my body and the ground, Sammy. You’re going to have to go through it again with me.”

He followed Sam to the car rental desk where another pretty woman greeted them again smiling at them. Dean thought that the smiling was creepy. Must be something in the water. He wondered if there was a creepy smiling monster on Hawaii. Sam got their rental keys and headed to the car lot.

The rental was small and Dean watched as Sam tried to fold his long legs into the driver’s seat. He eventually gave up and stalked over to the passenger’s side. “Not one word,” he pointed a finger at Dean who tried his best to look innocent. That hadn’t worked since Dean had turned fourteen.

Dean managed to squeeze himself into the car and watched as Sam pushed the passenger seat as far back as it could go. “Guess we’re not going to try and make out in this one?” he said eventually and cracked up at Sam’s expression. 

“You are such a jerk,” Sam told him and slammed the door.

“Takes a bitch to recognise a jerk,” Dean agreed and headed out. Sam pointed to the road they were supposed to be on and Dean followed his instructions. Sam stayed quiet and eventually Dean reached out one hand. “Thanks for being the wind beneath my wings up there,” he said and Sam started laughing.

He held Dean’s hand all the way to the Five-O headquarters.

*********

Steve looked up when two strangers walked in. They were dressed casually in jeans, t-shirts and boots but there was a look in their eyes. It was something that he recognised. These men were soldiers. They had seen combat. He stood up and waited for them to come to him.

The tall one held out his hand first. “Sam Wesson,” he said and then indicated his companion, “My partner, Dean Smith.”

“Commander Steve McGarrett,” Steve shook Sam’s hand and stared at him, eyes narrowed. “You’re not cops,” he said eventually.

Sam looked at Dean who gave a small nod. “No, Commander,” Sam admitted. “We’re hunters.”

Steve stepped around them and closed his door. “Call me Steve.” He waved them to seats and then perched on the desk in front of them. “What do you hunt?” he asked.

They looked at each other again and Steve could see that they were in sync with each other. They had a way of saying things to one another without a word. Sort of how he and Danny did sometimes. 

Dean spoke this time. “We hunt anything that kills people,” he said, voice deep and rough. It was a voice that commanded attention. Somehow he thought Dean was all too aware of his effect on people when he looked up and met an amused green gaze.

“So why are you here then?” he asked and hated that his voice cracked a little.

Dean smirked and he looked at Sam. “Sam thinks that we can help you,” he said and there was something in his gaze, a softening, that told Steve that these two were partners in every sense of the word. He'd seen it before. In his fellow marines, especially those who had been through Seal training together. There was a level of trust, a certain sense of total reliance that only came in the heat of battle.

“Help us with what?” Steve wasn’t going to give them anything. Despite the fact that he found himself wanting to take them into his confidence.

Sam looked at him and his eyes were hard. “The creature that’s killing people on your island,” he said bluntly.

Danny burst into the office and his face was flushed. “Steven, we need to talk…” His voice trailed off when he spotted the strangers. “Who’re you?”

Steve heaved a mental sigh. “Detective Danny Williams, this is Sam Wesson and Dean Smith from…” he looked at them.

Dean smiled. “The mainland,” he greeted and held out a hand to Danny, offering to shake his hand. 

Danny stared at him and then smiled back. “Not cops,” he said.

Dean laughed. “Not cops,” he affirmed. 

Danny was still holding onto Dean’s hand and Steve wasn’t sure how he felt about that. It was obvious how Sam felt about it. He scowled at Dean who smirked at him before letting Danny’s hand go. 

“So what are you then?” Danny asked. Steve tensed up when Danny came to sit next to him on the desk, the heat from Danny’s thigh burning through Steve’s cargo pants. Dean’s eyes were very knowing when they met Steve’s.

“They say they’re hunters,” Steve said and inched away from Danny. The glare from his partner told him that he’d made yet another mistake.

“What do you hunt?” Danny asked and he folded his arms across his chest.

“Anything that kills people,” Sam said and Danny looked at him. 

There was something about Sam that Steve liked. His few minutes with these two made him feel a little like he was watching his own dynamic with Danny. It was a little weird. 

“We’re here to help,” Dean said again and Danny’s gaze went back to Dean. 

“Help with what?” Danny asked and Steve chuckled at the almost word-for-word repeat of the earlier conversation.

“You have something that’s killing people on your island,” Sam told him. “We might have an idea of what it could be.”

Steve looked at Sam. “What?” he asked, not missing the careful wording.

Sam beamed at him as though he was a proud teacher. “Yes, ‘what’,” he confirmed.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Danny demanded, hands on his hips and glaring at all of them.

“Your killer isn’t human, Detective Williams,” Sam said quietly, mouth firm and serious.

Danny’s arms crossed defensively. “So, amaze me with your genius, genius?” He sounded annoyed.

*********

Dean shrugged when Sam looked at him. “I’m not even going to try to explain this one, Sammy. It’s all on you.”

He could practically see the annoyance on Sam’s face. “We’re hunters,” Sam said, squaring his shoulders and shuffling his feet like he always did when he was trying not to be impatient.

“Yeah, so why are you here?” Dean watched the irritated set of Detective Williams’ jaw. He was obviously the more of the two. Dean could relate. He let his gaze wander back to the commander who was watching his partner with a sort of fond smile. Yeah, Dean could relate alright.

“We’re here to help you,” Sam told him and sucked in a breath. “Okay, here goes. We don’t hunt animals, we hunt ‘things’.”

Dean watched the confusion rise in the eyes of the two men in front of him. “Huh?” Detective Williams asked succinctly.

Sam looked at Dean again. He decided to step in this time. “We take out the bogey-man in the closet and the monsters under your bed.” He opened his hands, “We’re kind of a real-life Angel Investigations team.” He paused for effect. 

“Huh?” McGarrett asked.

Dean stared. “Angel Investigations, you know, Angel and Spike and Wesley and Cordy…” he trailed off when he caught Sam’s glare. “Fictional series about guys who hunt the things that go bump in the night,” he ended.

“Are you high?” Williams asked.

Sam bit his lip, obviously hiding a smile. “I know it may seem hard to believe right now, but he’s actually pretty awesome when you get to know him a little better.”

“Hey!” Dean protested, feeling the need to defend his honor. “I’m totally awesome.”

“That’s what I said,” Sam agreed.

Dean’s eyes narrowed, trying to find the trick. There was always a trick with Sammy.

Commander McGarrett cleared his throat. “Bump, monsters, bogey man, could you please talk in English?”

Sam sighed. “When we hear reports of supernatural activity, we go out and try to help the locals figure out what’s going on.”

“Supernatural?” Detective Williams stared at them. “You _are_ high!”

Dean shook his head. “No, we’re not. And we can prove it.”

Steve held up a hand when his partner started talking again. “How?” he asked.

Sam spoke, “Let us see the body.”

Dean watched as Steve thought about it and then finally stood up. “Okay, I’ll let you see the body. I'm going out on a massive limb here, by trusting you two.”

Dean held out a hand again and Steve McGarrett shook it. “You won’t be sorry, Commander,” he assured him.

“Steve,” he reminded Dean and then looked over at Williams. “Come on Danny, let’s take them to Max,” Sam was right on Steve’s heels and Danny sputtered a little, taken by surprise.

“Who’s Max?” Dean asked as he headed out of the office.

There was a short silence and then Danny started laughing. “Max is going to skin you alive,” he crowed.

“Who’s Max?” Dean repeated.

“The smartest guy you’ll ever meet,” Steve told him as they walked out of the Five-O Headquarters. 

“And the scariest,” Danny added. 

They stopped in front of the hired car and stared at it.

“We can go in our car,” Steve suggested and pointed to a silver Camaro. Dean practically drooled.

“Our car?” Danny asked as he climbed into the passenger seat. “May I remind you that this is _my_ car, Steven. Which I am not driving. Which you do not let me drive. **My car**.”

Dean hid a grin as he clambered into the back with Sam. “They sound like us,” he noted. “Us, 2 point 0.”

Sam snorted a laugh. “Except that the sane person gets to drive,” he said.

*********

Steve patted Dean on the back when he got out. “You okay?” The self-professed hunter was pale and shaking.

Danny shook his head. “See what I have to work with?” he asked Sam who cackled at Dean.

“Finally someone who can out-crazy you,” he grinned. Dean flipped him off while bending over and sucking in deep breaths. Steve McGarrett was the craziest motherfucker ever to get behind the wheel of a car. He may have left his stomach back at the last traffic light. The Camaro handled like a dream but McGarrett was insane.

“I think I saw my life flash past my eyes,” Dean said. “About three times.”

Steve grinned. “What can I say, it’s a gift.”

Steve walked into the Medical Examiner’s office with Danny at his side. “What’s up with you being all Mr. I’m So Awesome and Helpful and Cool?” Danny hissed.

Steve looked at him. “You mean I’m not awesome and helpful and cool?” He tried to put on a wounded tone.

“Don’t,” Danny pointed at him. “Don’t try to con me with the face and the eyes!”

Steve grinned again. “I like them,” he said and it was that simple. In the field, in the middle of a fire-fight, you had to trust those with you. For some reason, he trusted these two.

“You don’t like anybody,” Danny reminded him.

Steve shrugged. “i don't know, they remind me of my Seal team, brothers in arms.” He couldn’t explain it any more clearly, but Smith and Wesson…he stopped, turned to the other two. “Smith and Wesson?” he asked. Dean beamed and dimples drew deep lines in Sam’s cheeks.

“Winchester,” Sam said. “Sam and Dean Winchester.” The names gave Steve a nudge at the back of his mind but he ignored it. He’d deal with that later.

“Why the fake names?” Danny’s eyes were narrowed as he looked at them. 

“We always use fake names with law enforcement,” Dean told him and his smile was guileless. “It makes things go easier.”

“Really?” Danny sounded sceptical. “Sounds more like you have shit to hide.”

“Potato, potatoh,” Dean shrugged. “It’s all the same.”

Danny looked at Steve who pushed the door to Max’s lab open. “And you trust these guys?” his voice went a little high.

Steve had seen their eyes. They had been in combat, had seen people die. It changed a person, made them better, stronger. “Yeah, I think I _do_ trust them,” he said quietly Sam heard him and looked at him. Steve met his gaze and nodded.

“Thank you,” Sam said and then pulled up short. “Um…”

Inside the Medical Examiner's lab, back to them, Max was wielding his saw like a baton, arms waving to something by Bach or Beethoven or something equally not classic rock. 

Steve felt the need to give them some sort of warning. “Max is a little bit…different,” he said eventually.

Danny snorted. “Different, yeah, that’s the right word.”

Dean shrugged. “We deall with different every day,” he said. He exchanged a look witgh Sam that hinted at an inside joke that Steve really wanted to understand.

Steve went to the stereo system and put the music off. The sound of the saw was incredibly eerie in the sudden silence.

“Hey!” Max protested, swinging around, the saw going off abruptly. He spotted Sam and Dean. “Who are you?”

Steve held up a hand. “Max, before you start interrogating anyone, this is Dean and Sam Winchester and they’re…”

Max’s eyes went wide. “You’re the Winchester brothers?” He dropped the saw with a clatter onto the table and Steve winced when blood and bone went flying. Max ignored it and stared at Steve. “Do you know who this is?” he demanded.

“Steve just told you, brainiac,” Danny said.

Max glared at Danny and then beamed at the Winchesters. “I know _everything_ about you!” he told them.

“Oh god,” Dean dropped his head and Sam flushed.

Steve was fascinated. “What are you talking about?” he asked Max.

“These guys are like real-life superheroes!” Max explained, obviously excited. “They kill demons and make friends with angels and slay vampires and can I please get your autographs?” he scuttled to his desk where he rummaged around and came up a second later with a book in his hand. 

“Oh god,” Dean said again and looked at Sam. “I am so fucking going to kill Chuck when I see him again.”

Max shoved the book at Dean with a pen. “Please?” he begged.

Dean sighed and opened the front cover and scratched a signature across the title page. “Kill Chuck dead,” he promised Sam, his tone dire.

Max gave the book to Sam who did the same as Dean and handed it back to Max who clutched it to his chest as though it was something infinitely precious. “Thank you,” Max breathed.

Steve cleared his throat. Max looked at him and went a little pink. “It’s the **Winchesters**!” he said defensively.

“Related then?” Danny asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, we're brothers,” Dean replied and it seemed almost like challenge in his face.

And yeah, Steve had not gotten that vibe from them _at all_.

“Why are you here?” Max asked and then looked back at the body he’d been working on. “Oh!” he exclaimed, “you think the killer is supernatural in origin?”

Sam nodded and asked, “What have you discovered so far?”

Steve was bemused when Max behaved as though he and Danny were invisible, waving the Winchesters over to stand around the autopsy table. “Well, I’ve tried to clear away the animal bites around the initial wound but it appears as though the killing blow was made by something long, pointed and with teeth.”

Sam leaned down, absently pulling on a pair of latex gloves. “Have you made an impression of the wound yet?” Danny and Steve exchanged glances, waiting for Max to tell them that he knew how to do his job.

Max didn’t. “I’ve used some of my own invention,” he beamed and went over to the small metal table in the corner of the room. He brought a basin back with him and produced something that looked like a flat sword with teeth running down either side.

Dean took it from him, also wearing latex gloves and stared at it. “Huh,” he grunted and passed it to Sam.

Steve cleared his throat again. “Max?” he asked.

Max blinked. “Oh,” he looked at Steve, “I apologize, Commander McGarrett, but I surmise that the weapon of choice for this particular murderer is obvious now.”

Danny made an impatient noise. “And?” he prompted.

“A sawfish,” Max replied as though it was obvious to everyone.

“A sawfish?” Danny gaped at him.

“A sawfish,” Max affirmed and then turned back to the Winchesters. “What do you think it could be?” 

“You just said a sawfish!” Danny said.

Max shrugged. “But it can’t be a sawfish,” he stated definitively.

“Can I kill him?” Danny asked Steve. “I swear I’ll make it look like an accident.” He was whining.

“No,” Steve said and walked over to where Sam was examining the mould. “You said you needed to look at the body.”

Sam looked up and Steve took a breath. This was the man he'd seen a glimpse of when he'd first met the Winchesters. A warrior, a soldier, an ally. “It’s not human,” he said.

“Not animal though either,” Dean added and poked a finger into the wound.

“Hey!” Danny protested when Max didn’t.

“Just checking for…ah,” Dean pulled his finger out and on the tip was a type of substance that looked almost like…

“Is that gold?” Danny asked and grabbed Dean’s hand to get a closer look.

“No,” Sam said and Steve noticed how subtly he moved so that Danny was forced to let Dean go and step back. Brothers my ass, he thought.

“What is it?” Max picked up a glass dish and scraped the substance into it, ignoring Danny’s question.

“Max?” Steve walked over to where Max was peering through a microscope at the stuff. “Any ideas?”

Sam tugged off his gloves and threw them in the available trash can. Dean followed suit and it all looked casual and comfortable, like something they had done many times before.

“Who the fuck are you guys?” Danny voiced the question that was on the tip of Steve’s tongue.

“They’re the Winchester brothers,” Max told them, eye still glued to the microscope. 

“Which tells me precisely nothing,” Danny griped and pointed at Sam. “Talk.”

Sam looked at Dean who gave a short nod. “Okay, but I don’t know how much of this you’re going to believe.”

*********

Dean watched Steve McGarrett’s face as Sam started talking. He watched the fleeting changes as Sam talked about vampires, werewolves, fairies, angels, demons and the Apocalypse. He saw Steve flinch when Sam mentioned the Leviathans and Lucifer. He wondered just what McGarrett had seen in his lifetime that he knew what Sam was talking about.

Danny on the other hand…

“You are so full of shit!” Danny told Sam and then spun to look at Steve. “They are talking crap, babe.”

Babe? Dean wondered at the relationship between the blond bull terrier and his commander but waited to hear what McGarrett would say.

“There are things out there that we can’t explain, Danno,” Steve said and his voice held a wealth of knowledge. Dean really wanted to sit down with this guy with a beer or three.

“Yeah, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster. All bullshit,” Danny said.

“UFOs are real,” Max said absently as he finally sat back. “Not too sure about Nessie but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Danny stared at him. “Of course _you_ believe in that crazy shit.”

Max bristled. “What is that supposed to mean, Detective Williams?”

Dean saw Steve step between them. “Okay, just simmer down you two,” he said, giving each of them a sharp look. “Max, have you managed to determine what the substance is?”

Dean noted that McGarrett wasn’t dealing with them just yet. He decided to focus on the case as well.

“It appears to be liquid gold mixed with some gelatinous material,” Max admitted.

“Are you serious?” Dean asked.

Sam touched Max on the shoulder. “Could I borrow your computer for a minute?” 

Max nodded, waved to his desk and Sam hurried over, quickly accessing the internet and typing furiously.

“My brother, the geek,” Dean smiled proudly at Steve and went to lean over Sam’s shoulder. “What’re you thinking, Sammy?”

“It sounds like something I read about a while ago, but I’ve never actually had confirmation that it wasn’t anything but a myth,” Sam looked at Steve. “Have you ever heard of the Adaro?”

Dean saw Steve blink before asking, “The what?” 

Max snapped his fingers. “I’ve read about them!” He pushed Sam away from the computer. “But they’re not native to Hawaii.”

Sam pointed at something on the screen that Max had found. “They’re part of the Solomon Island mythology,” he said.

“Adaro?” Danny tapped Dean on the shoulder. “Do you know what they’re talking about?” 

Dean grinned and shook his head. “Sammy’ll tell me when he’s figured it out.” He went over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. He took the mug and sat down on the stool at the microscope. He peered through the viewer, curious to see what the goo he’d found in the wound looked like.

It was shiny and sort of looked like metallic snot. “Hey Max,” he called, “how’d you know this is gold?”

Max wasn't paying him attention, he was staring at his computer screen and his face had gone pale. 

“Oh, that just looks nasty,” Danny pulled back from where he’d been standing behind Sam and Max.

Steve leaned closer to the screen. “Is that what this is supposed to look like?” he asked. 

Sam shrugged. “When looking at mythological beings, the actual appearance can get a little hazy,” he admitted.

Dean nodded and yelped when the microscope viewer poked him in the eye. “Fuck!” he muttered and rubbed his eye.

Danny snorted a laugh and Dean wanted to flip him off. He decided that they weren’t that far along in their relationship yet. “Dragons, for example,” Dean said.

“Dragons?” Danny asked. “You’ve actually seen dragons?”

Sam made a noise that Dean interpreted as ‘shut up, you asshole, we don’t know these people at all’. 

“Yeah,” Dean ignored Sam. “They were a little disappointing, to be honest,” he admitted.

He walked to the computer and looked at the picture on the screen over Sam’s shoulder. “That is one ugly mother,” he noted. 

The Adaro looked like a man but had large gills drawn behind its ears. It looked like it was walking on flippers or fins and a giant dorsal fin growing out of the back of its neck blending into the spine about halfway down its back. “It has a nose that looks like…” Dean made a vaguely sword-like gesture.

“A sawfish spear,” Max nodded. 

“Huh,” Dean said. “So, if that’s our killer, how do we kill it?”

“According to legend,” Sam read from the screen, “they live in the sun and travel to and from Earth by sliding along rainbows.”

“I think that is about the stupidest monster I’ve ever heard of,” Danny said. Dean privately agreed.

“They can exist on land and in the ocean. In fact, their other method of transport is waterspouts.” Sam shook his head. “You know, just when I think I’ve seen it all...”

“They can shoot humans with poisonous flying fish,” Max read.

Dean groaned. “I am _not_ going to be killed by a fish,” he insisted.

Steve pursed his lips. “It must be more dangerous than that. It’s killed at least three people that we know of.”

“Poisonous fish,” Dean said with a raised eyebrow.

“They were not killed by fish,” Max told them.

“Okay, so they got killed by a mermaid then,” Dean offered.

Sam put his head in his hands. “I’m going to disown you one day,” he muttered.

“Ah, you love me,” Dean grinned and then flushed when Steve looked at him. “So, about the mermaid…”

“Adaro,” Max corrected. “Mermaids or mermen are not dangerous to humans.” He went back to the microscope and started doing things to the gold snot. He seemed to forget they were there.

Dean rolled his eyes. “Whatever. The fish killer, how do we kill it?”

Sam punched a few more keys. “They can only survive out of water for two hours at the most.”

“Sam is a ninth Dan Goodle-fu’er,” Dean confessed to Steve, who hid a smile when Sam glared at Dean.

“You can sit by yourself on the plane trip home,” Sam said.

Dean felt his stomach dip. “Uh…” Sam’s triumphant grin made Dean mad. “Bitch,” he muttered.

“Jerk,” Sam replied. Dean leaned against his brother’s back, breathing softly onto the nape of his neck as he pretended to study the information Sam had found.

“So, how do we kill it?” Dean asked again. “Apart from trying to let it die out of water.”

He felt Sam’s slight shiver and grinned to himself. Sammy was so fucking easy. “They’re nomadic and travel in family groups of ten or more, moving from one feeding ground to another as the supply depletes.”

“Well, that explains why they’re in this part of the ocean,” Dean nodded. “They’re obviously looking for new hunting grounds.”

“Well, they’re not staying around my island,” Steve said and looking at the steel-hard determination in his face, Dean believed him.

*********

Steve wondered just when his life had taken a turn into Crazyville. Here he was in Max’s lab, talking about mythological monsters with two strangers and he wasn’t freaking out. He thought it might have something to do with having Danny in his life.

“You’re taking them seriously?” Danny’s expression was incredulous. “Seriously?”

Steve shrugged. “Unless you’ve got a better explanation for the wounds and the gold spit, then yeah, I’m taking them seriously.”

Danny gaped. “Whatever drug they gave you to enhance your Super Sealness has obviously played bongos with your brain because you are making _no_ sense at all!” Danny’s hands made sharp movements in the air.

“He’s smart, not crazy,” Dean interjected, pointing a thumb at Steve. Danny’s eyes narrowed.

“You!” Danny pointed at Dean. “You’re like the ringleader of crazy!”

“Get your finger out of my face,” Dean said. Steve wondered if Danny remembered another time that he’d done that and ended up flat on his face. He thought that the Winchesters might not treat Danny as carefully as he had.

“I will do whatever I…” Danny squawked as Dean took him down.

“Play nice, Detective Williams,” Dean leaned over him and spoke softly into his ear. “Sam and I are here to help. But we will not let you get in our way.”

Steve took a step towards them but stopped when he saw Sam hold up a hand. “Let them get it out of their systems now and things’ll go a lot smoother,” he said.

Steve nodded. “Dean and Danny seem like they’re cut from the same cloth,” he noted as Dean pulled a glowering Danny to his feet.

“We can only hope that there was only enough cloth to make two of them,” Sam replied.

“Hey!” Dean protested, “I heard that.” He kicked at Sam who shuffled the chair out of reach.

“I wasn’t whispering,” Sam said and exchanged a grin with Steve.

Danny was rubbing his wrist and glaring at Dean. “You don’t have many friends, do you?” he asked.

Dean shrugged. “Probably about as many as you do, Prince Charming.”

Steve decided to bring them back to the reason they were there. “So, if we get this Adaro thing out of the water, we’ll be okay?”

Sam shook his head. “That’s going to be the tough thing,” he looked back at the computer screen. “They travel in waterspouts, remember?”

Steve nodded. 

“And on rainbows,” Danny said, a mocking edge in his voice.

“At least they’re not fucking fairies,” Dean muttered.

“You’ve seen fairies fuck?” Danny asked and Dean snorted a laugh.

“Nope, dear lord I hope that never happens, but I've killed a few fairies.”

Max pulled away from his work. “You killed a fairy?” He sounded scandalized.

“They were trying to kill _me_ ,” Dean pointed out.

“You killed a fairy!” Max yelled.

“I killed a bunch of them!” Dean yelled back.

“Guys!” Steve stared at them both. “Adaro, killed three already, can we focus?”

Sam made a quiet noise. “Okay, so here’s something we can maybe use,” Steve motioned for him to continue. “They live in sea caves.”

“And?” Steve prompted.

“Well, if we can find their nest, we can blow up the cave and kill them in it.” Sam looked triumphant.

“Sea. Cave.” Dean spoke slowly. “I don’t scuba, do you?”

“Scuba?” Sam frowned. “No.” He looked at Steve. “Do you scuba?”

Steve felt his lips twitch. “Yeah, I scuba.”

“He’s a fucking Seal!” Danny exclaimed.

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Should I give him a round of applause?”

Steve snorted a laugh. “Seal as in Sea, Air and Land.”

“I knew that,” Dean said with a grin. “I was just fucking with you.” Danny flipped him off but grinned back. Steve had a feeling that if Dean and Danny ever joined forces they would either destroy the world or rule it. He really didn’t want to find out.

“So, do you know of any underwater caves?” Sam looked at Steve.

“Yeah, there are several places that I can think of offhand,” Steve nodded.

“All of the murders have occurred within five miles of the ocean and the nearest beach is here,” Sam pointed at a map of Honolulu and a spot called Hanauma Bay.

“Huh,” Steve leaned forward. “That looks like it's near the Spitting Caves.”

“The Spitting Caves?” Dean repeated.

“Yeah,” Steve pointed at the screen. “There are about 5 different sized caves there. It’s not a deep dive, starts at about 50 feet and then drops to about 140 feet.”

Danny went pale. “That sounds pretty deep,” he said.

“I’m with him,” Dean agreed.

Steve ignored them. “Kono knows the place too,” he mused. “We’d have to take one of the police boats from Hawaii-Kai marina.”

“Woah,” Sam stood up. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

Steve looked at him. “I’m not going to sit around and wait for more people to die.”

“It’s almost six thirty,” Danny told him. “You couldn’t do anything right now even if you wanted to.”

Steve made a frustrated noise. “I don’t want to wait!”

“We can head out at first light,” Sam played peace-maker. 

*********

Dean rubbed his belly, suddenly feeling the fact that he hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before. Airplane peanuts didn’t count. “We need to find ourselves a motel,” he told Sam. “And a place to eat.”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, I could eat.” He grinned at Dean. “Pizza?” he asked. Dean nodded.

“Would you be able to drop us off at our car?” Dean looked at Steve.

Steve was still focused on the map to the Spitting Caves. “Commander McGarrett?” Sam tried. 

Steve straightened. “I have a suggestion,” he began.

“No,” Dean said promptly. Sam dug his elbow into Dean’s ribs.

“Why don’t you crash at my place?” Steve carried on, ignoring Dean’s protest. “It’ll make things easier in the morning.”

Dean opened his mouth to refuse again. “Thanks,” Sam said, “that’ll be great. It’ll save time as well as money.” He levelled a look at Dean who squirmed.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Dean admitted.

Danny stared at Steve. “Who the fuck are you today? And what have you done with my partner?”

Dean looked between them. Some unfinished or unspoken shit was going on with these two. Dean wasn't going to interfere. He really wasn't.

“I want to get out to the caves as quickly as possible,” Steve defended himself. He patted Max on the shoulder. “Thanks, Max. We’ll get out of your hair.”

He headed for the door and Danny scuttled after him, protesting all the way.

Dean exchanged a look with Sam who shrugged. “They have issues, Sammy.”

“Don’t we all?” Sam responded and held out a hand to Max. “It’s been a pleasure,” he smiled, all charm and dimples. 

Max practically vibrated with delight. “I feel like I’ve met Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock in real life,” he confessed.

“Live long and prosper,” Dean quipped and shook Max’s hand. “It’s been real, man.” Max held on a little longer than necessary and Dean scowled, tugging his hand back.

“Would you perhaps consider speaking to a small group of..?”

“No!” Dean grabbed Sam’s arm and hauled him out of there. “God, what is it about the people who read those fucking books?” 

Sam gave a short laugh. “It’s like they’re all on a train to Looney Land.” He waved to Max as they headed out after Steve and Danny.

“Chuck is going to pay so bad when I find him,” Dean vowed for about the millionth time.

“You okay with staying at a cop’s house?” Sam asked, keeping his voice low.

Dean lifted a shoulder. “I reckon he wants to keep an eye on us as well as convenience.” He bumped Sam’s shoulder with his own. “No need to shell out for a room tonight, Sammy.” He waggled his eyebrows.

Sam fixed him with a stare. “You realize that we’ll be sleeping in separate rooms?”

Dean scowled. “Fuck that shit Where you go, I go.” He wasn’t ever going to sleep apart from Sam again. It always ended up with one of them going missing.

“Yes dear,” Sam’s dimples flashed and Dean wanted to lick them. 

“I _will_ make you pay for that,” Dean promised, letting his voice go low and rough. He was rewarded with the tinge of color that swept across Sam’s ridiculous cheekbones.

“Asshole,” Sam muttered but dropped his hand to Dean’s ass and squeezed. 

Dean made a protesting noise. “Not here, Sammy. You don’t want to traumatize the natives.” He winked at Sam who shook his head.

The sun was just dipping below the horizon when they walked outside. Dean sucked in a breath. “Wow.”

Sam stood next to him and they watched the sky exploding with color. “Yeah.” Sam was a long warm presence against him and Dean took a moment to appreciate the utterly insane thought that somehow they were both still alive.

“Are you two coming or are you going to need a moment to commune with nature?” Danny’s caustic question made Dean look to where the two men were leaning against the Camaro.

“That is such a pretty car,” Dean noted again.

“You _will_ have to fly to get back to the mainland,” Sam said.

Dean felt his stomach flip-flop. “I’m in the mood for a nice long sea voyage,” he muttered and headed down towards Steve and Danny.

“Your island is pretty spectacular,” Sam told Steve.

“It’s home,” Steve’s simple words struck a chord in Dean. Home for Dean wasn’t a place. It was Sam. Home for Dean had always been Sam. Him and Sam against the world, no matter what. Not even Satan himself had been able to keep them apart. 

It’s the reason why he’d nearly lost his mind when Sam had been in Lucifer’s cage. Living a _normal_ life with Lisa and Ben had been sheer torture without Sam. As long as Sam was somewhere in the world, Dean could handle anything

Since things had changed between them, being without Sam was no longer an option. Home was Sam and Dean knew it was the same for Sam. As long as they had each other, they could handle anything.

He climbed into the back seat of the Camaro and Sam’s arm stretched across the seat behind him. Dean allowed himself just a moment to lean back against that arm and breathe.

“You’re such a romantic,” Sam whispered in his ear. “Are you smelling me?”

Dean jerked upright and glared at Sam. He opened his mouth to say something sarcastic but stopped when he saw the softness in Sam’s eyes. “Maybe,” he hedged and was pleased to see Sam’s mouth curve up in a shy smile. 

“We’ll take you back to Five-O HQ so that you can collect your embarrassment of a car and then you can follow me back to my place,” Steve told them.

Dean saw Danny stare at Steve and it looked like the cop wanted to protest but he kept quiet. Dean thought that Danny seldom kept quiet. “Thanks,” Dean said. “It’ll be great to stay in a house and not a motel for once.”

Steve met his gaze in the rear view mirror. “I’ve got beer and we can put some steaks on the barbeque and you can tell me some of your stories.” 

Dean nodded, already salivating. “Sounds good,” he admitted and Sam’s fingers brushed against the back of his neck. He shivered and saw that Steve saw. “I’m great with beer.”

“I can throw a salad together,” Sam admitted.

“Samantha here is quite the kitchen goddess,” Dean told Steve, who grinned. Dean yelped when Sam pinched the tender skin between his neck and shoulder. “That was a compliment, moron!”

“In what universe am I Samantha?” Sam retorted. “Seriously, one day I'm just going to let the monsters eat you.”

“Aw, baby, you'd never let that happen to me,” Dean made a kissy face at Sam.

Danny turned around to look at them. “You're brothers?” he asked. “Seriously?” His eyebrows crawled up his face looking like fuzzy gold caterpillars. Dean shook his head. Obviously all this sunshine had fried his brain if he was thinking about eyebrows being caterpillars.

Danny looked between them. “You don’t act like any brothers that I’ve ever seen.”

“Danny.” Steve’s quiet voice made Danny turn back to his partner. 

“What?” Danny sounded irritated. “So _now_ you’re talking to me, Steven?” he pointed at Steve. “One day you’re going to turn around I won’t be there anymore.”

“He should be so lucky,” Dean murmured in Sam’s ear. Sam nudged him in admonition.

“Don’t poke the bear, Dean,” Sam told him.

“Eh,” Dean shrugged. “I can take him.”

“He looks like he could be feisty,” Sam noted, and Dean scowled at Sam’s slow gaze sliding over Danny.

“Eyes front, you perv,” Dean told him and dug his fingers into the meat of Sam’s thigh.

Sam grunted but didn’t respond. Dean looked up to see Steve watching them again and sighed. If Steve had a problem with this, with them, then the situation had the potential to get very awkward. Then he saw Steve shake his head, almost imperceptible and he nodded back. Okay then.

*********

When he shook his head, meeting Dean's gaze in the mirror, Steve saw Dean’s eyes go wide and then narrow. The small head shake told him that his silent message had been heard and understood. Years of DADT had made him realize that what people chose to do in the privacy of their own homes was none of anyone’s business.

Of course, this was the privacy of _his_ home, but he still wasn’t going to mess with the Winchesters. 

They arrived at Five-O HQ where Chin and Kono were waiting. “What’s the plan, boss?” Chin asked.

“Who’re they?” Kono demanded, eyes narrowed.

Steve watched Dean and Sam climb out of the Camaro and they looked dangerous and possibly a little wild. He could understand Kono’s concern.

“Kono, this is Sam and Dean Winchester,” he introduced them by their real names. “They have an idea of what we’re up against.”

Kono looked sceptical. “Them?” She wasn’t looking past the slightly scruffy, worn exteriors.

“Aloha,” Chin held out a hand to Dean. “I know who you are.”

“Oh god,” Danny groaned. “Another fan?”

Dean sent him a cocky grin. “We’re awesome,” he said and shook Chin’s hand. “Thanks,” he nodded, “I hope we live up to the hype.”

Chin shook Sam’s hand. “I apologize in advance for my cousin,” he said, nodding over at Kono.

Sam grinned. “I could say the same for Dean,” he said and ducked the lazy swat that Dean aimed at him.

“You’re okay to follow us?” Steve asked.

Dean nodded and headed to the sardine can. “Carry on, McDuff.”

“Shakespeare?” Sam asked, opening the passenger door. “Look at you being Mr. Culture.”

“Fuck you,” Dean said and flipped him off.

Steve looked at Kono and Chin. “You coming?” he asked.

“Sure,” Chin didn’t question, he just headed for his bike. 

Kono opened her mouth. “We’ll fill you in at my place,” Steve told her. “Barbeque?”

Kono snapped her teeth. “I can eat,” she said and followed Chin.

Steve felt like the Pied Piper heading out with the caravan following him. 

“So, why are you being all accommodating and shit with these two guys?” Danny demanded as they hit the highway. “They're strangers and very strange strangers at that!”

Steve glanced over at him. “I like them,” he said. 

“I like Kamekona but I’m not inviting him to a sleepover,” Danny pointed out.

Steve laughed. “Come on, Danno. Don’t try to tell me you don’t think they’re pretty interesting.”

Danny shrugged. “They’re pretty, alright.” He stopped and flushed. “Yeah, that didn’t come out right.”

“Maybe it did,” Steve said quietly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Danny wasn’t looking at him.

“They’re obviously crazy about each other,” Steve said.

“In a purely platonic, brotherly way,” Danny insisted.

Steve shook his head. “They’re fucking,” he said.

“Steven,” Danny put his hands over his ears. “I’m going to pretend you never said that.”

Steve took the road leading to his house. “I know what it’s like to feel something for someone you shouldn’t,” he admitted.

Danny stared at him. “You? Mr. I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt? You want someone you can’t have?”

“Yeah, Danny,” Steve kept his voice low. “And it sucks.”

Danny seemed completely distracted from the thought of the Winchesters. “Seriously? There’s a girl who said no to you?”

Steve glanced at Danny. “Who said anything about a girl?” 

Danny’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times. “Uh…”

Steve pulled up in front of the house and waited for Danny’s brain to catch up with his mouth. 

“You’re bi?” Danny asked.

Steve nodded. 

“There’s a guy?” Danny asked.

Steve nodded again.

“Oh,” Danny said and got out. 

Steve wondered if that was a good ‘oh’ or a bad one. The Winchesters and the rest of his team drove up and he knew that this moment would be lost. He met Danny's eyes as he climbed out of the car.

“Do I know him?” Danny asked.

Steve nodded. “i don't think he feels the same way though.”

Danny looked astonished. “Tell me who he is and I'll make sure he knows how fucking lucky he is,” he demanded.

Steve bumbed Danny's shoulder and said, “Thanks Danno, it's good to know you have my back.” he knew that Danny wouldn’t leave this particular conversation alone. Danny was a bull-terrier when he wanted to know something. 

Steve watched the Winchesters taking stock of their surroundings.

Dean spun in a circle and looked around at the sea and sky and whistled. “Fuck me, but this is pretty solid, man.”

Steve nodded his thanks. “Didn’t really have much to do with it,” he said, leading them up the stairs into the house. “I inherited it from my dad.”

Danny made a small noise. “Apart from the mending of the bullet holes and the other damage over the past two years…”

“Bullet holes?” Sam’s eyebrows went up. “Your life sounds about as exciting as ours.”

“Super Seal here has never met a fight he didn’t want a part of,” Danny drawled, heading for the fridge and pulling out a beer.

“Don’t be an asshole, Williams. Share the alcohol with the other kids,” Chin said as he and Kono came inside.

Danny muttered something anatomically impossible as he grabbed the rest of the six-pack. He plonked them on the coffee table in the middle of the living room and scowled when Kono blew him a kiss. 

Steve poked around the freezer and found a couple of fish he’d nabbed the last time he’d gone diving. He ran hot water in the sink and put the fish in a bowl in the middle of the water.

“What can I do?” Sam wandered up behind Steve.

“You said you’re good with vegetables?” Steve asked.

“Sammy’s my conscience,” Dean tipped his bottle at them from the other side of the room. “He keeps trying to make me eat my fruit and veg.”

Sam snorted. “You have the eating habits of a nine year old,” he said. “You’ll probably die from clogged arteries.”

“Eh,” Dean shrugged. “Some big bad will get me long before cholesterol does.” The silence was deafening.

“So tell us about this killer,” Chin asked into the awkwardness.

Steve was thankful for the change of topic.

*********

Steve wanted to do the dive alone.

Kono objected. Loudly.

Danny was even louder.

“Over my dead body, babe!” he shouted, helping Sam to chop up onions and peppers for the salad.

“That shouldn’t be too hard to arrange,” Steve muttered and Dean stifled a laugh.

There was something about Steve that reminded Dean of Sam. But his brother had an edge, a hardness that didn’t seem to have developed in the cop.

“How long have you and Sam been hunting monsters?” Steve asked.

Dean looked at him. “My whole life,” he admitted, “apart from the first few.” He saw Steve’s expression. He didn’t understand. No one could. No one except another hunter.

Steve cleared his throat. “So, what’s real and what’s just a fairytale?” he asked.

Kono looked interested in the answer to that one.

“Hit me,” Dean leaned back, “I’ll tell you.”

Kono narrowed her eyes. “Dragons,” she snapped.

Dean looked at Sam and winked. “Real,” he said.

“For serious, bra?” Kono’s eyes went wide.

“For serious,” Dean nodded.

“You mentioned fairies?” Danny called from the kitchen. Sam focused hard on chopping his vegetables.

“Evil little bastards,” Dean muttered into his beer.

“That’s just…” Steve looked appalled.

“Fried one in a microwave once,” Dean offered.

“You killed a fairy?” Kono asked as though he’d been responsible for the death of a species. She shared the sam horrified tone as Max had. Dean blamed fiction for this unrealistic idea of what fairies were like.

Dean held up a hand defensively, “Hey, it was kill or be killed and my douchebag of a little brother was too busy getting laid to help.”

Sam blinked in slight shock and Dean looked down at his hands. He hadn't meant to say that. It was part of a past that he really didn't like thinking about. Sam had tried so hard to make amends for the things he'd done when his soul had been trapped with Lucifer and Michael in the cage. Dean didn't want to remind him of it. As much Dean didn’t like remembering the time Sam had been without his soul, Sam hated it even more.

“Unicorns?” Chin was leaning back on a kitchen chair, balanced precariously on its back legs.

Sam shrugged. “We’ve not met a real one. There was a kid who drew one that came to life though.”

The cops were all staring.

Danny waved his knife triumphantly. “The Loch Ness Monster!”

Dean grinned and took a deep swallow of his beer. “ _We_ haven’t seen it, but Bobby swears it’s real.”

“Bobby?” Steve asked.

Sam looked at Dean and bit his lip. Dean rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “He’s uh…our resident ghost?”

Kono spun around in her seat. “You have a ghost?”

Sam held up his hands. “He's a friendly ghost,” he assured her. Dean thought that she didn't look particularly terrified. In fact, she appeared downright fascinated. These were very weird people.

“What? So you're best buddy is Casper?” Danny crossed himself.

Dean snorted beer out of his nose when he laughed. 

“His name is Bobby Singer and he's the closest thing to a father we've got,” Sam said. 

And his bottle moved towards him across the counter.

On its own.

*********

Steve was only slightly freaked out. 

But when Dean just called, “hey, Bobby,” he fought to keep control.

“Can you see him?” Kono whispered.

“Yeah,” Sam admitted. “He's around most of the time.”

“He talks to you?” Steve wondered when his life had turned into an episode of _Crossing Over_.

Dean cleared his throat. “Cusses us out most of the time.” His beer tipped just a little too far and it poured out over his jeans. “Oh, fuck you very much, Bobby!” he yelled, jumping to his feet.

Danny crossed himself again. Chin and Kono looked fascinated, the inscrutable zen assholes. They were used to dealing with all this weird crap thanks to their Aunty who creeped Steve out. Although he would never tell her that. She was fucking scary.

Sam scowled at nothing. “Take a chill pill, Bobby,” he said. His bottle rattled and Sam grabbed for it.

“He’s being a dick,” Dean said and wrapped his hands around the neck of his bottle.

His head jerked forward as though he was being slapped upside it. “Hey!” he protested.

Steve just couldn’t be scared of a ghost that petty. 

“Have we been smoking something and we just didn’t know it?” Danny mused to the world at large.

Steve decided to focus on the job at hand. “So Kono and I will head out to the Spitting Caves first thing in the morning. We can do a quick recon, see if anything is down there.”

“ _ **We**_ will go there,” Danny corrected him, knife waving dangerously again. “ _ **We**_ , Steven.”

Steve opened his mouth to remind Danny how much he hated the ocean when Dean said, “Yeah, I think it might not be a bad idea to take a couple of boats, cover each other.”

“You can scuba?” Danny asked and Dean scowled.

“No,” he admitted, jaw set, “but I can swim. And I can shoot like a motherfucker.”

Sam nodded, tipping the peppers into a large bowl. “That’s true,” he agreed. “Dean’s the second best shot I know.”

“Who’s the first?” Kono asked and Sam grinned.

“Me,” he pointed at his chest and Dean protested.

Danny came over and sat down next to Steve. “You’re trusting these two yahoos to have your back?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

Steve looked at the Winchesters. Dean was up now, waving his arms and gesticulating wildly. “Yeah,” he nodded. “I think having them might just be the scale tipping in our favour.”

Danny looked at him closely. Whatever he saw in Steve’s face must have satisfied him because he sat back. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

*********

Dean discovered that ‘Let's do this’ in Danny-speak meant plan every second of the operation down to who was going to be at the wheel of the boat.

It was also sort of cute watching Steve, the bad-ass Navy Seal, watching Danny. He saw a little of himself in Steve, before he'd finally got up the nerve to tell Sam how he felt. And hadn't that been fun? Sam had seemed to enjoy the emoting. Dean never wanted to do it again. Ever.

Dean wondered if Danny had any idea that his partner was all unrequited over him. He doubted it. Danny seemed like the cute but clueless type.

Sam came and sat down next to him when Chin, Steve and Danny headed out to the grill with the fish. “Think he knows?” Sam asked, warm shoulder pressed against Dean’s. It was amazing how they knew what the other was thinking. Twenty plus years on the job and they were the honest to God other half of each other. 

“Maybe,” Dean slumped further down, appreciating the chance to be sort of normal for once. Sam clinked his bottle against Dean's and took a sip. “He's a lot like me.”

“Clueless about feelings?” Sam asked but his eyes were dancing.

“Asshole,” Dean said fondly.

“Who knows what?” Kono asked. Dean jerked a little. She was sneaky.

Sam tilted his head back to look at her. “You’re sneaky,” he noted.

Kono came around and sat on the coffee table, fixing them with a stare. “It’s how I hear the truth,” she shrugged. “Who knows what?” she repeated.

Dean looked at Sam. “It’s not really any of our business...” Sam tried and Kono laughed.

“Sure, _now_ you’re being discreet.” She scoffed. “How about I tell you something about you that you think isn’t known?”

Dean cocked an eyebrow. “You think you know our secrets?” he asked.

Kono looked smug. “If I’m wrong, you tell me nothing, but if I’m right..?”

Sam folded his arms. “I’m terrified to even ask.”

“Okay, so you guys are brothers, right?” Kono looked at them.

“Yeahhh,” Dean didn’t like where this was going.

“No judging, by the way,” Kono held up her hands, “but I think you’re a little _too_ close to each other.”

Dean sat up straight. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kono shrugged. “Again, your business, but you’re not as subtle as you think you are.”

Dean looked at Sam who’s cheeks were bright and hot. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dean blustered.

“Hey bra, Hawaii is an island, the inbreeding runs deep,” Kono told him but her eyes were kind. “Now, I bet you were talking about Steve and Danny, right?” 

Dean tried to stick with the rapid change of topic and realized that Kono really didn’t care. She was way more interested in her boss and his partner. “Uh, yeah,” he said, exchanging a puzzled glance with Sam. This Five-O team has some issues.

“So, are they doing it or do they want to?” Kono asked, voice lowered and checking to see that Steve and Danny were still outside.

Sam kept his voice low when he replied, “Okay, here's the thing from my point of view. Steve wants to be with Danny in the worst way. Not sure about Danny though.”

Kono nodded. “Yeah, you’d think with how loud and out there he is, Danny’d be easier to read.”

“McGarret wants to do bad things to Williams,” Dean noted with a dirty grin. Sam knocked his knee. “What?” Dean was confused. “It’s not like it’s not as obvious as your face.”

“It’s a nice face,” Kono said, smiling.

“Stop flirting with my brother,” Dean warned her.

Kono made a face. “How do we get them together?” she asked.

Dean shook his head. “Oh, no! We are not getting involved with this shit.”

Kono pouted a little but eventually sighed. “Fine, it just sucks that two of the smartest guys I know are so perfect for each other and they’re completely clueless.”

“It happens,” Sam told her. “But I'm rooting for them to not be stupid forever.”

“My Sam, the romantic fool,” Dean breathed and fluttered his eyelashes.

Sam flipped him off and left them, heading outside. Dean watched him go. It was a nice view. So did Kono. “Hey!” he pointed his bottle at her.

She laughed. “Just ‘cause he’s not available doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the view.”

“Yeah,” Dean hauled himself to his feet and held out a hand to her. “So, you’re okay with this thing tomorrow?”

She let him pull her up and they walked slowly towards the back door. “The dive isn’t the part that worries me,” she admitted. “It’s the unknown.” 

Dean nodded. “I’ve never dealt with these particular monsters before,” he admitted. “But for me and Sam it's different day, different monster but we put 'em all down.”

Kono sighed. “I don't think I want your job,” she said.

“We're used to it,” Dean told her. “This is a bit of a different situation for us though. We're not used to letting other people to the heavy lifting.”

She bumped his shoulder. “We’re a team,” she told him. “We’re used to it.”

Dean appreciated the sentiment. “It’s been a while since Sam and I have been part of anything.” He stopped. “But we did have Bobby and Cas and Ellen and Jo and even Rufus for a while.” He felt a twinge at the memory of fallen friends.

“How do you like your fish?” Steve asked when they reached the little group around the grill.

“Not flopping,” Dean said with a smile. It was kind of ironic to be eating fish the night before they hunted mermen.

Sam looked at him, eyes soft and Dean took a breath. He reckoned that he could do this every now and then. He looked out at the sea, the moon guilding the ocean silver and gold. This might be a good place for a hunter to retire. Or disappear.

*********

Supper was noisy and delicious. Dean couldn’t remember a meal he’d enjoyed more. He and Sam were absorbed into the banter and bickering as though they’d been part of the team for years. He ate too much, drank too much and talked _way_ too much. Sam was more relaxed than Dean had seen him in ages. It was a good night.

Danny was opinionated and bossy. Steve was quieter but firm. Chin contributed little but when he did, everyone listened. Kono was the little sister Dean had never had; nosy, pushy and delightful.

Dean was a little in love with all of them by the time the evening wound down. “I like you,” he told Steve who was leading him up the stairs to the room he and Sam were sharing. Sam had volunteered to help with some of the clean-up.

“I’m a likeable guy,” Steve told him.

“I’m not,” Dean confided. “Lickable, I mean.” He grinned. “Likeable.”

“I don’t think you’re as drunk as you’re pretending,” Steve said.

Dean smiled. “I’m drunker than I let myself get around strangers,” he admitted. 

“You and Sam,” Dean waited for Steve to carry on but he didn’t.

“Yeah,” Dean said and it felt good to acknowledge that there was more to Sam and him than DNA. 

“You make quite a team,” Steve steered him into the room and Dean was delighted to see a queen sized bed.

“We’ve been part of a whole since childhood,” Dean confessed. “We didn’t take it further until,” and he stopped, not wanting to think about Sam when he’d come back from Hell, broken and not-Sam.

“You don’t have to explain,” Steve told him and lowered him to the bed. It was firm and felt a little like heaven to Dean’s tired body.

“You’re the first person I’ve ever wanted to explain it to,” he said, flopping back onto the mattress and looking up at Steve. “You kinda remind me of Sammy.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” Steve’s mouth curved in a small smirk.

“I’m a flirt,” Dean advised and Steve’s smile widened.

“Duly noted,” he said.

“Anyway, when Sam came back,” Dean stopped, not wanting to add more weird to an already bizarre situation, “from where he came back from.” He frowned. “That sounds wrong.”

“It’s wrong,” he agreed. He rocked back on his heels, watching Dean closely.

Dean sniffed. “Whatever. Anyway, Sammy came back different and it took us a while to get back to normal.” His heart felt heavy, remembering the moment when Sam had walked up to him, awake as himself for the first time in a year, and just held on, hard. “From then on, we found it harder and harder to be apart, to be separated.” Leviathan, Bobby, Cas, all the fucking crap they’d been dealing with. Dean wondered how they were still standing.

“Love makes you do the wacky,” Steve said.

Dean stared at him. “You know Buffy?” he breathed. “I might be in lust with you so hard right now.”

Steve laughed. “She’s cool,” he said. “It’s why all this Adaro shit is not freaking me the fuck out.”

“I could go straight for Buffy Summers,” Dean said thoughtfully.

“I’d kill you,” Sam’s voice was a sigh in the doorway and Dean rolled his head to the side to look at him. God, he was pretty.

“He sure is,” Steve agreed and Dean realized that he’d said it aloud. He tried to stop the blush. Sam’s dirty little laugh told him that he’d failed.

Sam walked into the room and tugged at Dean’s bootlaces. “Why the fuck do you always double-knot?” he complained as he tried to untangle the mess.

“So I won’t trip over my fuckin’ feet when I’m chasing after a vamp,” Dean reminded him and stared at Steve. “So you and Danny, huh?”

Steve startled and blushed. Dean congratulated himself mentally. At least fifty percent right then. “What about me and Danny?” Steve's eyes were wide. “He’s my partner.”

“Uh-huh,” Dean watched Sam take out his Apache TAC-1. “Hey!” he waved a hand. “Do _not_ fucking cut my laces, dude!”

Sam scowled at him and Dean wanted to lick the frown lines away. And that sounded very, very wrong. He blinked and Sam grinned. The fucker could probably read his mind. 

Dean looked back at Steve. “Why haven’t you made a move?” he asked Steve.

Steve opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. “He’s not interested?” It sounded like a question.

“Oh, he’s interested,” Dean assured him and slanted a glance at Sam. “Right, Sammy?”

Sam grunted and pulled hard on Dean’s laces. 

“Sam?” Dean nudged Sam with his other foot and Sam sat back.

“Seriously, I’m cutting these laces in about two seconds if you don’t get them off yourself.” Sam looked homicidal. Dean was concerned for his laces. He sat back up and pulled his boots off without undoing the laces. It fucking hurt like a bitch.

“You’re such a moron,” Sam told him.

“I’m awesome,” Dean said with a great deal of conviction. Steve started backing out of the room. Dean pointed at him. “Don’t be a pussy, McGarrett,” he ordered. “Life’s too short to wait for the right moment.”

Steve made a sort of pained attempt at a smile and fled, closing the door behind him. Sam crawled up next to Dean on the bed. “Should I call your Dr Phil or Dr Ruth?” he asked.

Dean sniffed. “Fuck you,” he said, “Steve is gonna owe me forever for that little piece of advice.” He waved at Sam. “Hey babe.”

“Nothing is happening in this room tonight,” Sam told him, going for determined.

Dean lifted a lazy hand and palmed himself. Sam’s eyes followed the movement, going dark and intent. “Y’sure ‘bout that, Sammy?” Dean asked.

“I hate you,” Sam announced and headed for the bathroom. 

Dean chuckled to himself, hand still rubbing slowly across his own dick. The island, the people, the fucking air was having an effect on him. “We should think about retiring here,” he told the fan wafting slowly above his head.

“What?” Sam stuck his head out of the bathroom door, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, toothpaste foaming at the corners.

“Nothin’,” Dean hauled himself to his feet and grabbed his toothbrush. He nudged Sam away from the washbasin and started brushing his teeth. Sam’s eyes met his in the small mirror and he could read the love, the worry, the affection in his brother’s face.

“What?” Dean asked but he was spitting out the toothpaste and rinsing his mouth out before the word was done.

Sam closed the bathroom door and put the water on. The steamy heat from the shower soon filled the small room. He crowded Dean up against the door, not saying a word.

“Now, Sam,” Dean warned, “don’t you start something you’re not intending to finish.”

Sam’s mouth curled up in a smirk, dimples carving deep grooves in his cheeks. Dean leaned up and kissed him. Sam’s lips were cool and his mouth tasted of toothpaste. His hands tightened on Dean’s hips and the pressure of his mouth increased. 

Dean pulled back. “Thought nothing was happening tonight, Sasquatch?” he slanted a gaze up at Sam. It still sort of pissed him off that Sam was taller than him. 

“A little kissing is okay, I guess,” Sam admitted and bit Dean’s bottom lip. Dean shivered when Sam licked the small pain away.

“Are we showering or wasting water?” Dean asked. 

Sam stepped back and pulled off his shirt in reply. Dean hurried to do the same. The amount of booze he’d consumed over dinner made him a little slower, a little clumsier than usual and he found Sam’s hands at his belt buckle after he’d fumbled with it for a while.

“I coulda done that,” Dean assured Sam who pulled his boxers down with his jeans and knelt at his feet. 

“I’m sure you could have,” Sam looked up at him, eyes bright. “Now step out of your pants, Dean.”

“’Mnot, five,” Dean grumbled but his hand went to Sam’s broad shoulder as he stepped out of the pile of clothes. Just in case.

“Get in the shower,” Sam ordered and fuck if Dean wasn’t turned on by it. When the hell had that happened? He walked into the shower that was barely big enough for the two of them. 

Sam pulled the shower curtain closed behind him as he followed Dean. The heat of the water and the heat of Sam’s body behind him was making Dean feel a little dizzy. He jumped when Sam’s hands landed on his shoulders. “Let me take care of you,” Sam murmured into his ear and Dean leaned back against him, weak and wanting.

Sam’s hands were careful as he soaped Dean’s body. There was something like adoration in his touch. Dean had loved Sam all of his life but since they’d moved on to…this, whatever the fuck _this_ was, their bond had doubled.

“Stop thinking,” Sam told him, voice low and growly. Dean barely stopped the shiver and Sam didn’t miss that. “Oh, so you’re in the mood for me telling you what to do tonight?”

“No,” Dean said and meant the complete opposite.

Sam, the little shit, knew him too well. “Touch yourself,” he whispered and Dean’s hand was on his own cock before he’d finished the order. “Slowly,” Sam added. 

Dean might have whimpered. But he obeyed. The double stimulation of his own hand and Sam’s big palms stroking their way across his chest and down his stomach were driving him insane. 

Sam licked at Dean’s neck and then sucked a mark into his skin. “Bitch,” Dean gasped.

“Just making sure that everyone knows who you belong to,” Sam muttered into his skin. Dean almost came right there. 

“I’m going to make you pay for that,” he warned Sam.

The dirty laugh into his skin made Dean squirm. “Only if I let you,” Sam said and his fingers wrapped around Dean’s. Dean sucked in a breath and started to move his hand. “No,” Sam ordered, “we do this together.”

Dean protested. “Wanna touch you.”

“Later,” Sam promised and they moved their hands together, jacking Dean in slow motion. Dean refused to be embarrassed by the sounds he made as the joint stimulation of their hands and Sam’s mouth at his neck. He’d stopped making excuses for the things Sam made him feel.

He came hard, Sam’s name a harsh whisper beneath the sound of the water. Sam bit down hard and Dean cursed. “Fuck, Sammy, you’re gonna draw blood!” but it was hot and he knew that Sam got off on a little pain every now and then. 

Dean wasn’t always so happy with it being him that suffered, but he figured that Sam had endured enough pain for three hundred lifetimes so he took one for the team occasionally.

Sam finally turned the water off and Dean let him take care of him. Sam rubbed him dry with the towels Steve had given them and Dean leaned his forehead against Sam’s shoulder.

“C’mon, you big baby,” Sam’s tone was fond as he bundled Dean into bed. “Tomorrow’s a big day.”

“Eh.” Shrugging was a little difficult lying down, wrapped in an eiderdown, but Dean tried it anyway, “Another day, another monster. We’ve been doing this for a while now.”

Sam made an agreeing sound and climbed into the bed next to him. “So retiring to Hawaii huh?” 

“Shut up,” Dean snuffled into Sam’s neck. 

“What happened to ‘we’re going to go out in a blaze of glory’?” Sam sounded amused.

Dean cracked open an eye. “You do this on purpose, you know?”

“What?” Sam tried for innocence but Dean was onto him.

“You talk about all this emo shit when I’m tired or I’ve just come.” Dean tried to glare at Sam but he was feeling too good. “You think you’re so fucking sneaky.”

Sam shook with laughter. “Go to sleep, Dean. I won’t try to trick you into talking about feelings and shit tonight.”

Dean dug a finger into Sam’s side and he squeaked. “I know your weak points, fucker.” But Dean was smiling as he closed his eyes again.

*********

Steve watched the Winchesters the next morning. They moved like one. Before the one needed something, the other had passed it to him. It was uncanny and made him feel a little wistful.

“So, did you hear any interesting noises from the guest room last night?” Danny’s voice in his ear made Steve jump a little.

“What?” he asked.

Danny waggled his eyebrows. “Did they do the nasty?”

Steve stared at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He shook his head. 

Danny flinched. “It was a joke,” he said.

“Not funny, Danny,” Steve felt protective of these guys. They felt like family which was really absurd.

“Sheesh, Steven,” Danny’s mouth was pinched. “I’m sorry for whatever line you think I crossed when I wasn’t paying attention.”

Steve looked at Danny and then back at Dean and Sam. “They don’t give a fuck that everyone knows how they feel about each other,” he hissed.

Danny stared at him. “Are you high?” he asked.

“I’m serious, Danno. It’s obvious that they love each other and they don’t care that everyone else thinks they’re freaks. They don’t care.” Steve was angry and confused and he didn’t know what he was trying to tell Danny but it felt important.

“They’re brothers and they fuck,” Danny sounded neutral and Steve wasn’t sure what that meant.

“I know. I don’t care. Do you?” Steve knew that Danny’s answer was important.

“No,” Danny shrugged, “It’s their shit, and no one’s business.”

“So why’d you make that joke?” Steve needed to know.

“Because it’s an uncomfortable situation and I’m an asshole?” Danny suggested.

Steve felt his mouth curve in a grin. “Okay,” he said.

“We good?” Danny asked.

“We’re good,” Steve said and waved at Kono and Chin who had just pulled up in Chin's truck. “Morning guys, you ready?” Chin lifted his bag and Kono grinned and waved her dive kit bag at him.

“Ready to head out?” Dean came up, Sam close behind him. Steve nodded. “Let’s go and get the mermaid, then.” 

Sam’s mouth went tight and he glared at Dean. “For the last time…”

Dean rolled his eyes. “The name doesn’t matter, dude. The amount of dead it’s going to be is way more important.”

Steve bit back a smile as Sam muttered something dire under his breath.

Dean beamed at him. “It’s my job to drive my little brother crazy,” he whispered. “I give the monsters stupid names to fuck with him. He has several faces that express his annoyance. They have names like ‘BitchFace 1’ or ‘ConstipationFace 3’.”

Steve shook his head. “You and Danny could be twins,” he said and pointed a thumb at his partner. “He has names for my faces too.”

“Not to get into your business,” Dean said, keeping his voice low. “But, life is short, don't waste a moment.”

Steve looked at Danny. “It could fuck things up,” he grimaced. “I’d rather keep my friend.”

Dean cocked his head and put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “What if you could have it all?” he asked and then winked. “Come on, Sammy Let’s go and bag us a Burro.”

“Adaro, you moron,” Sam gritted and followed Dean to Chin’s truck. “Would you stop pretending that you have half a brain?”

“And spoil all your fun?” Dean’s smile was cocky and it made Steve laugh. “Never!”

“I’m still not sure why you’re all mushy about those two, but I’m going to trust your judgement on this one,” Danny told Steve.

Steve nodded. “Thanks, man. I appreciate the confidence.”

“But if you’re wrong…” Danny warned.

“I’m not,” Steve said, more sure than ever. “Let’s go find us a merman.”

*********

The boat ride to the Spitting Caves was bumpy. They left the Hawaii-Kai boat marina at about seven thirty and it took them about ten minutes to get there. Steve had commandeered two police dinghies. One was loaded with Chin and the Winchesters, and the other carried Danny, Kono and himself. They’d all geared up in wetsuits before they’d headed out. Well, Chin, Kono and Steve had. Dean and Danny had both looked at him disbelievingly and grabbed life vests. Sam had offered to be a lookout on the surface. “I snorkel but I don’t scuba,” he’d said.

When they reached the dive site, Steve threw a rope over to the other dinghy and Chin tied them together.

“Okay, Kono and I will go down and do a little recon,” he said. “Chin and Sam will stay up on the surface with spear guns, just as an extra precaution.”

“And we sit around looking pretty, right?” Danny pointed to him and Dean. 

“Uh,” Steve looked helplessly at Sam who shrugged and smirked a little, the asshole. 

“You need to keep on the lookout for anything suspicious, remember?” Steve said. Sam coughed into his hand.

“Fuck you, Steven,” Danny pointed at him. “Seriously, I hope the mermaid turns you into stone.”

Steve laughed. “Love you too, Danno,” he said and fell backwards into the water, Kono following quickly after him. They dived down and Steve turned to look back up once. Chin and Sam both gave them a thumbs up. He waved and followed Kono down towards the caves.

At 35 feet, they hit the first cave. Steve let Kono take it; he didn’t think the Adaro would be so close to the surface. He had a feeling that they’d find them at the lowest cave.

The cave was empty barring a couple of manta rays that set the sand swirling on the cave floor. It was shallow and not someplace anyone could hide. Steve tried to put himself in the minds of the monsters. It was all too easy.

He pointed out and down, and Kono nodded, eye showing disappointment. She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

They headed out and went down another fifteen feet or so, swam into the second cave. It was wide and large and a large green sea turtle bumped against him in its haste to leave. Again, it was a wash so they headed back out. Steve felt the tension tightening in his neck and his hand flexed against the handle of the underwater torch. 

Caves three and four were also empty. Several reef sharks and some eels glared at them for disturbing their watery peace. Kono touched his arm. He pointed down and she frowned, the water distorting the lines of her face. They both knew that what they were hunting lay further down, deeper in the indigo ocean.

They hesitated at the entrance of the last cave. They were at around one hundred and thirty feet and were probably about halfway through their air. Steve checked their oxygen levels, just in case and showed Kono the sign for five minutes and she nodded. He went in first.

Something came flying out of the depth of the cave. It was moving very quickly and he lurched to the side. Kono moved in the opposite direction and turned to look at what had come at them. It looked like a flying fish. The fish continued on out into the ocean. More of the sharp toothed fish followed until the ocean seemed to be swarming with them. Suddenly Steve felt a sharp pain in his arm. He looked down and saw what seemed to be a piece of bone sticking out of the meat of his forearm.

Kono grabbed at him and started pulling him back out of the cave. Steve slapped his hand over the wound, well aware of the fact that there were tiger sharks in the area. They could scent blood in the water for miles. He didn’t fight Kono’s hold and let her pull him out. Once they hit open water, they started up to the surface.

Several more flying fish came at them, teeth sharp and pointed. One ripped a tear in Kono’s suit and she shook her head at him. She wasn’t wounded. Steve kept looking around as they carried on up as quickly as possible. He worried about decompressing but reckoned that they would be safe. As long as they didn’t go too fast.

They hit twenty feet and the water exploded around them. Steve felt Kono ripped away from him as he spun around in a tube of fast moving water. His goggles were ripped off his face and the air pipe to his mouthpiece tore at the joint. He was sucking in water and it felt like the biggest dump a wave had ever given him.

Steve had no idea what way was up and tried to orient himself. But the water was churning too much and black stars flickered behind his eyes as he began to struggle for air. He wondered for a brief moment if Danny would be sad or pissed at him and then fought again to get to the surface.

And then it stopped. 

As suddenly as the water thing had appeared, it vanished. Steve saw the light of the surface and pushed hard for it, lungs burning.

Air had never tasted sweeter as his head broke the surface and he gulped it in. Then he looked around for Kono. He spotted her being helped into the dinghy by Dean and Sam and headed for the other one where Chin was still treading water and head down.

“What the actual fuck?” Danny was shouting as he hauled first Steve and then Chin into the dinghy.

“Get us to the beach as quickly as possible,” Steve gasped and fell back into the centre of the dinghy. Chin got them moving.

They hit land about two minutes later, jumping out of the boats and pulling them up the beach. Kono was pale and shaky. Sam looked a little green.

“What the fuck is wrong with all of you?” Danny shouted as he focussed on stopping the bleeding from Steve’s arm. “I told you not to shoot!” He appeared to be yelling this at the other boat.

“Did it stop because of you guys?” Steve asked Chin.

“Yeah,” Chin nodded, eyes on the ocean. “Spear gun seemed to do the trick.” He looked over at Sam. “That dude is lethal with a weapon. He didn’t shake, didn’t wave, just pointed to where we could see you and Kono rising and shot.”

“And you didn’t think that maybe you were going to hit Steve?” Danny yelled.

Chin met his angry gaze calmly. “He didn’t.”

“Oh my god, I work with insane people!” Danny threw his hands up and spun in a frustrated circle. Steve knew that this was Danny’s way of dealing with something that scared him.

“Check his arm,” Kono told Chin. 

“It’s fine,” Steve glared at her. She kept her face expressionless as Danny grabbed his arm. Steve hissed and Danny pushed the torn wetsuit out of the way.

“You have a piece of fishbone in your arm, Steven,” Danny pointed out and went to rummage in the dinghy for the first aid kit they always brought along.

“So, fishbone weapons, water twisters and anything else in their arsenal?” Dean asked.

“Flying fish,” Steve said.

And Dean started laughing.

*********

Dean stared out at the water. Sam came up next to him. “So, what do you think?” Sam asked.

“They’re coming,” Steve said and they turned to look at him. “They saw where we went and they know that we know where they are. They don’t act like any fish I’ve ever seen.” Dean looked over at Steve, saw Danny bandaging him up, loudly berating his stupidity for getting hurt. 

Dean nodded. “And we’ve done some damage, so they’re gonna want to take us out.”

Sam watched the water. “They’re moving differently. Not like schools do. Smart. Not like fish. With purpose.” He shook his head. “It’s wrong, is what it is.”

Chin walked over to them. “There was something on the bone that hit Steve,” he said. “It looks like poison.” His eyes were flat. “We need to get him to a hospital.”

“Puffer fish was the poison of choice in my research,” Sam offered.

Chin nodded. “I’ll tell the doctors.” He followed their gaze out to the ocean. “They’re going to come, aren’t they?”

Dean shrugged. “If my secret hideout had just been compromised…”

“We need to get set up,” Kono stated and they turned to look at her. She’d ripped the arms off her wetsuit and looked like a warrior princess. 

Dean whistled at her. She was beautiful and scary in only half a wetsuit and a bikini top. “If I wasn’t in a monogamous relationship then I’d totally do you,” he said.

She snorted a startled laugh and they headed back to Steve and Danny. 

“His arm is paralyzed,” Danny said and his eyes were frightened. “Pufferfish poison isn’t something we should be fucking with and now Super Seal is bitching at me because he can only use one gun.”

“We need to get ready,” Dean told them and Steve nodded.

“They’ll be here soon,” he agreed.

Dean looked around and saw an outcrop of rocks set back against the cliffs. “That looks like a spot to stand and defend,” he pointed.

Steve craned his neck and saw the spot. “Yeah, that’ll do.”

They hauled their gear out of the dinghies and headed for the rocks. They barely made it when the ocean erupted and three spinning waterspouts sped across the water towards the beach.

Sam and Dean automatically covered each other and looked around to see the Five-O team doing the same. Steve’s hand was steady as he pointed his gun.

“What was the plan again?” Danny called.

“Kill them like fish,” Dean shouted back and pulled out the large nets from the bags they’d grabbed.

“Three of them?” Kono asked.

Sam nodded. “I think so, I think each spout contains a swarm of…woah!” he ducked as about ten flying fish shot out of the nearest spout smashing into the cliff wall behind them.

“Poison!” Danny reminded them.

Dean barely stopped his eyes from rolling. He was worried about Steve though. The tough guy was a little grey around the mouth and sweat was pouring down his face. His gun hand was dropping and Dean thought the paralysis was setting in there too.

“We gotta finish this fast,” he told Sam. “McGarrett doesn’t look too good.”

Sam glanced over at Steve. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Let’s finish this.” He opened his pack and pulled out the dart gun. He dipped the dart in the poison he’d mixed the night before. “I prepared a little surprise for them.”

He slotted the dart into the gun and lifted it to his mouth. He paused, aimed and blew hard. Dean was sure that beaming proudly at your baby brother’s dart gun prowess in the middle of a battle to the death with mermaids wasn’t the coolest thing to do, but he couldn’t stop himself. 

The dart hit its mark and a wail of pain came out of the furthest waterspout. 

“What the hell was that?” Chin asked.

“They form a resistance to the puffer fish poison, so I thought that I’d use something a little more land-based,” Sam said, loading his dart gun again.

The waterspout with the Adaro that Sam had hit started spinning slower and slower until it collapsed, the monster dropping to the sand and gasping. 

The water seeped away, leaving a scaled humanoid creature gulping in air. A spear that looked like a rib bone fell out of its hand and the fish in the waterspout flew back into the sea.

“Loyal like dogs,” Dean murmured. Chin laughed.

Sam aimed for the second water spout and blew. The same almost-but-not-quite-human sound came from inside the spiral of water and Sam grinned in satisfaction.

“Who knew all those blow jobs would come in handy?” Dean asked and Sam glared at him. “What?” he held up his hands. “I’m just saying.”

“You’re an asshole,” Sam declared and they watched as Adaro number two staggered to the sand.

“What poison did you use?” Kono asked.

“Marbled Cone Snail,” Sam told her and set up his next dart. “One drop is powerful enough to kill twenty humans, so I reckoned it should at least slow this mother down.”

The last waterspout was almost on top of them, swarms of fish flying out of the water with deadly intent. Dean started using the butt of his shotgun like a baseball bat, trying to keep the fish away from Sam so that he could do his thing.

He heard a shout from his left and saw Danny on top of Steve, a whalebone spear sticking out of his side. One of the Adaro had managed to get beneath their defences. “Fuck,” he muttered. He looked at Sam and made a cutting gesture.

“Now, Sammy,” he said and Sam took aim and blew. The dart hit its mark.

The Adaro screamed, water spinning away and thinning the spout as it started moving back, heading for the ocean and Dean lifted one of the nets. “Oh no you don’t, buddy. It’s time to go bye-bye.” He threw the net at the slowing column of water and the Adaro went down in a heap of fish and bone.

Chin and Kono quickly followed suit with the other two creatures, securing them with nets and pulling them up the beach, away from the safety of the ocean.

“Now what?” Chin asked.

“Now you get your wounded to a hospital. Sam and me will baby-sit the monsters and wait for them to die,” Dean told him.

Chin stood for a moment, undecided and then held out a hand. “You two are good men to have at my back in a fight.”

Dean grinned. “Back at ya,” he said and looked over at Kono. “All of you.”

They helped get Steve and Danny into one of the dinghies and then Chin said, “Kono will stay with you.”

Sam opened his mouth and Chin held up a hand. “The dinghy is police property and you two don’t know how to get back to the marina.”

“Okay,” Sam said. Kono walked over to one of the Adaro, poking at it with a whale-bone spear. “She’s the most dangerous of all of you, anyway.”

Dean fluttered his eyelashes. “She’ll protect us.”

Chin barked a laugh and they helped to push the dinghy into the water and watched them leave.

One of the Adaro lurched up and Kono calmly grabbed a spear from a spear-gun and jammed it into the torso of the monster. The scream made Dean wince. Kono was fucking terrifying.

The sounds of dying creatures didn’t’ bother him and Dean looked around the beach. “I’m starving,” he said. “Is there anything to eat in any of the packs?”

Sam wordlessly pulled out a Mars Bar and handed it to Dean.

“I love you,” Dean breathed around a mouthful of chocolate.

“I know,” Sam said and grinned.

Sam was such a fucking nerd. Quoting Star Wars at him right now, was not cool. Dean would make him pay for that.

*********

“Turns out that puffer fish poison isn’t so good for you,” Danny informed them from his hospital bed. He looked remarkably cheerful for a guy who had a hole in his side.

Steve grunted, wondering how he’d managed to get stuck in the same hospital room as Danny, and kept his eyes closed. Some days, all he wanted was a little less Danny and a little more peace. He seldom got it.

“They had to pump his stomach,” Danny told the Winchesters with far too much relish. “It was nasty.”

“How do you know?” Steve asked, eyes still shut. “You were busy getting one stitch for your itty bitty wound.”

“Itty bitty…” Danny sputtered and his hands said what his words couldn’t.

Steve opened his eyes to look at Sam and Dean. “You’re leaving,” he said and it wasn’t a question.

Sam nodded. “Yeah, Bobby’s got a line on a Rugaru in Maryland, so we’re heading out.”

“On a boat,” Dean added and Steve chuckled.

“We’re not taking a boat just because you have an unreasonable fear of flying, Dean,” Sam told him. “We’d be wasting time. If we take a boat to the Mainland then the monster will have killed more people. Then I’d be stuck with your guilt-filled ass for the rest of time.”

“Thank you,” Steve said and held out his hand. Dean and Sam took turns in shaking it with a smile.

“You ever plan on coming back this way?” Danny asked the question Steve wanted to ask.

Sam shrugged. “Who knows, you get monsters here too, apparently.”

Danny started whistling the Ghostbusters theme song and Dean laughed. “Who ya gonna call?” he nodded and shook Danny’s hand.

“It’s been fun,” Sam said, “but we’re just going to…” he indicated the door and Steve nodded.

“If you ever need the services of Five-O, legal police business or just a character reference, you call me, okay?” Steve met Dean’s gaze and let him see how serious he was.

“Sure,” Dean agreed far too easily and Steve realized that they weren’t likely to see the Winchesters again.

They turned to leave, but at the door, Dean stopped and looked back. “Hey, Danny?” he called.

“Yeah?” 

“Just fucking kiss McGarrett and put him out of his misery, man. What you’re doing is just cruel.” With a jaunty wave, he was gone.

The silence in the hospital room was leaden.

“That Dean Winchester…” Danny tried to joke but his voice was high and strained.

“Do you want to?” Steve asked, throwing all caution to the wind. He’d almost died trying to kill a mythical creature and life was just too fucking short.

“Do I want to what?” Danny hedged.

Steve sat up and dropped his legs over the side of the bed, staring at Danny. “Don’t be a dickhead,” he chided and felt his cheeks go a little hot. “Do you want to kiss me?”

Danny sat up too, a little slower because he was being careful not to tear his stitch. “Maybe,” he shrugged, but his face was red and his eyes were bright. “If you weren’t such a freaking hero all the time.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Steve was genuinely confused.

“It means you keep risking your life like it’s nothing and those who care about you have to sit around and wonder if they’ll ever see you again and….” Steve shut Danny up with his mouth.

Turned out to be the best method ever.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Author’s Notes:** > Written for sncross_bigbang & crossbigbang So much fun. Title is from Sylvia Plath's 'Aquatic Nocturne'. Thanks to adrianneb78239 who was so enthusiastic & creative, even when her computer went ‘kaboom’ and she lost all of her work. Her art is gorgeous and you all need to go and tell her okay? Here at http://adrianneb78239.dreamwidth.org/84173.html 
> 
>    
>  **Beta:** the always amazing and supportive dansetheblues  & inbetweencabs who cajole, persuade, kick my butt and make me better at my work. All mistakes are of my own making. Never theirs!


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